IDPs going hungry in Arakan State as junta fails to provide food supplies

By DMG 28 Jul 2022

DMG Newsroom
28 July 2022, Sittwe

The residents of some camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State are going hungry as they are not receiving food supplies from the Arakan State administration council, the Myanmar military regime’s governing body for Arakan, according to camp managers.

The Arakan State Disaster Management Department does not provide food supplies to IDPs on a regular basis, and the last time IDPs at the No. 1 IDP camp in Ann Township received food supplies was some two months ago, said camp manager Ko Than Cho.

“IDPs at the camp have no jobs, and we have to borrow from others to feed them. We have only received supplies twice this year, in February and March,” he told DMG.

More than 200 IDPs at the camp are now solely dependent on a monthly allowance of K18,000 per head provided by the World Food Programme, he added.

Meanwhile, the IDP camp at Nyaung Chaung village in Kyauktaw Township has also received food supplies from the regime just twice this year, in January and May, said camp manager U Than Aye. More than 3,000 IDPs are sheltering at the camp.

“The disaster department phoned me to say that supplies would be sent this week,” U Than Aye said. “We faced hardships even when we received supplies regularly. So, things are getting harder now. We have had to buy food on credit from nearby shops, and we receive no donations from other charities.”

Manager U Maung Kyar of the Gandari displacement camp in Buthidaung Township said IDPs at the camp have to do any job available to survive.

“The Disaster Management Department phoned me to say that they would send supplies this month, but we haven’t received it. Some IDPs search for bamboo shoots and vegetables in forests and some borrow from others to settle their stomach,” he said.

Ko Ann Thargyi from the charity group Thingaha Kanlet Rakhita called on the military regime to provide food supplies in full to IDPs.

When asked by DMG, the spokesman for the Arakan State military government, U Hla Thein, said: “The budget for rice supplies is not granted from the state budget, but from the Union budget, which is only granted every three months. Perhaps there have been delays in granting the budget or difficulties with cash withdrawal or logistical problems of sending rice sacks. Only the Disaster Management Department will know the details.”

Director U Thurein Tun of the Arakan State Disaster Management Department declined to answer DMG’s questions.

More than 200,000 people were displaced in Arakan State during two years of fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army from late 2018 to November 2020. While many have since returned home, tens of thousands of IDPs remain at displacement camps.

IDPs have recently expressed concern about a possible return to large-scale armed conflict in Arakan State after the two sides clashed in Maungdaw Township last week, and in neighbouring Paletwa Township over the weekend. More than 1,500 residents have been newly displaced in Rathedaung as a result of escalating military tensions in the region.